What we have to do to win this series....

Guess what, guys. We're not good enough at defense to beat Tampa with defense. We're just not. It's time to adapt our game, something New Jersey never, ever does.

What we did today, was play Tampa-style firewagon hockey. And when we did, our offensive depth closed the gap on Tampa's superstars. This series is going to take something completely new, which we haven't seen in years from the Devils - defensive responsibility, backchecking, and all out high-flying offense.

That's what our offensive corps is built for. Even our checking line is built around skating. We can't out-forecheck Tampa, we're not physical enough. We can't trap Tampa to death - they beat us with long passes and superstar skill. But we can outskate Tampa. They run their top line ragged and their other lines are nowhere near St. Louis, Lecavalier, or Richards in skill level.

It's time to break the mold, guys. Let's see the speed.

i dont want to agree with you...but what choice do we have??

I guess you can say we played their game tonight and I would say we dominated them. They looked tired and nervous from the middle of the 3rd on. I have been saying all year that we have the guys with the wheels, we need to use them. We don't need to trap them because nobody on their team does ANYTHING besides frick and frack. I mean, has anyone here even heard of any of their 3rd or 4th liners?

So we just roll 4 lines and let them get tired as they play 27 minutes each a night. No shadowing, no line matching, just let those two screw around on the outside. Matty worked very well tonight vs. them, but Luko was weak. We need to find a partner for him.

Let the dogs out, we have 'em, might as well use 'em.

In the first period and most of the second what NJ did different from other games is us a two man forecheck and our defense put pressure on the forwards trying to use the long pass. I think if we continue to do that we should be effective. I like this strategy of rope a dope, Tampa doesn't get all that many point blank shots when using this.

Brodeur played well tonight....made the saves he could make and more.Two tips and a screen beat him.

I blog with a couple other HF peoples, and here's my extended argument:

Welcome to the new NHL.

If the Devils are going to beat Tampa Bay, they need to play to their strengths - and Tampa Bay's weaknesses.

The Devils can't trap Tampa to death. The Lightning's passing have shattered the trap, breaking straight through a defense which has been the Devils' bread and butter since Jacques Lemaire and the 1995 championship. Lecavalier and St. Louis skate right through a trap which no longer features Scott Stevens, Ken Daneyko, and Bobby Holik to physically punish them and take them off their game. They're too big, too strong, and are too good at controlling the puck.

The Devils can't out-forecheck Tampa. Whatever the weaknesses of Tampa's bottom lines, physicality isn't one of them. In games 2 and 3 Tampa came out and punished the Devils, taking the play to the Devils end of the ice, and playing to their strengths - and the Devils' weakness. Andy Greene, Johnny Oduya, Paul Martin, and Brian Rafalski are very good hockey players - Andy Greene is much better than I thought, he's been great - but they buckle under the pressure applied to them. There's no Scott Stevens, no Scott Niedermayer.

But in game 4, the Devils did what they are going to need to do to beat Tampa Bay. And it sounds completely insane, on the face of it.

If the Devils are going to beat the Lightning, they're going to do it playing firewagon hockey.

I know, it sounds ridiculous. But think about it - the Devils are built to be a skating team. The checking line, once Bobby Holik and Randy McKay, is now John Madden and Sergei Brylin, players who can take the puck and move it out fast on their feet. They can't stop Lecavalier and St. Louis, but they can tie them up a little and skate it out on the counterattack. Tampa Bay has two lines comprised of three players - Lecavalier, St. Louis, and Richards - who are run ragged by Tortorella even if they are playing against the trapping, sitting-back New Jersey Devils. If the Devils start to make them skate on every shift, that fatigue will play more of a factor than it does currently.

Moreover, everyone on the Devils can skate (with the exception of Mike Rupp). The EGG line looks lethargic, but they're not playing to their strengths - they're sitting in the neutral game, waiting for the game to come to them. They've got to take the game to Tampa, to the third and fourth lines of the Lightning. Make them skate with you, don't bring yourself down and skate with them. The Parise line is much the same way - skate with them! Take the game to them! Let them take it back against you - the Devils are never going to be a bad neutral-zone team, and the skating defensemen will be better suited for an end-to-end matchup. Besides, you've still got Lukowich and Matvichuk to play the other game if necessary - and Lukowich is no slouch on his skates, either.

Call me crazy. The Devils are losing when they try to play Devils hockey against Tampa Bay. But when they play Tampa hockey against Tampa bay, things seem to change. The chances start adding up for the Devils, the flow starts going back towards Tampa, and quickly, instead of a slow drag into the Devils defensive zone, allowing Lecavalier and St. Louis to set up their deadly offense. Yeah, Tampa's deadly in transition too, don't get me wrong, but they'll get tired faster playing the skating game instead of the trapping game and Tortorella doesn't have the bench to go to once he's past his superstars.

Plus, Tampa's defense completely fell apart tonight once the Devils changed the game on them. Parise got open. Gomez got open. Elias got open. Holes opened up in the ice as the tide turned as the typical Devils iceberg turned into a river. Don't get me wrong, you'll see the Devils defense have issues too - but at least they'll be areas where the Devils are playing to a strength of 2/3 of their defense, instead of the trapping game which they really aren't suited to play anymore without Stevens or Daneyko.

These aren't the same old Devils anymore. It's time they stopped trying to play the game like they were. If they don't, Tampa's going to eat them alive, slowly, one goal at a time.

Guess what, guys. We're not good enough at defense to beat Tampa with defense. We're just not. It's time to adapt our game, something New Jersey never, ever does.

What we did today, was play Tampa-style firewagon hockey. And when we did, our offensive depth closed the gap on Tampa's superstars. This series is going to take something completely new, which we haven't seen in years from the Devils - defensive responsibility, backchecking, and all out high-flying offense.

That's what our offensive corps is built for. Even our checking line is built around skating. We can't out-forecheck Tampa, we're not physical enough. We can't trap Tampa to death - they beat us with long passes and superstar skill. But we can outskate Tampa. They run their top line ragged and their other lines are nowhere near St. Louis, Lecavalier, or Richards in skill level.

It's time to break the mold, guys. Let's see the speed.

WOW!! great post my friend, I had this same exact convo with my father this evening....


one other point almost all TB goals and scoring chances are generated from St. louis and VL setting up a great pass behind the net. the majority of the lightning players are aloowing to set up shop almost anywhere behind or the side of the goal.

This is a so un-devil like I think they need to be a little more aggresive on these guys and have a little more faith in marty to make the save on a pass rather than congest the front of the net and allow Tb to set up the BEST PLAY POSSIBLE by sitting back waiving their sticks. Its 5 on 5 when this happends and our D is playing like a its killing a penalty??? I just dont get it:help:

Tampa wrecks the Devils in the offensive zone, just WRECKS them, and that's why those guys (S-L-R) are destroying us.

Tampa wrecks the Devils in the offensive zone, just WRECKS them, and that's why those guys (S-L-R) are destroying us.
Right. So lets take the game to them, instead of letting them take the game to us.

Guess what, guys. We're not good enough at defense to beat Tampa with defense. We're just not. It's time to adapt our game, something New Jersey never, ever does.

What we did today, was play Tampa-style firewagon hockey. And when we did, our offensive depth closed the gap on Tampa's superstars. This series is going to take something completely new, which we haven't seen in years from the Devils - defensive responsibility, backchecking, and all out high-flying offense.

That's what our offensive corps is built for. Even our checking line is built around skating. We can't out-forecheck Tampa, we're not physical enough. We can't trap Tampa to death - they beat us with long passes and superstar skill. But we can outskate Tampa. They run their top line ragged and their other lines are nowhere near St. Louis, Lecavalier, or Richards in skill level.

It's time to break the mold, guys. Let's see the speed.

I Agree with this 100% !!

If Tampa Bay's 3 top guys are going to play 30 minutes a game - don't sit back! Skate them up and down the ice all game.

When Madden Pando and Brylin finally started playing a more aggresive offense late in the 3rd it resulted in that great scoring chance for Brylin that he shanked wide.

I think that's the first time this series I saw that line try to cycle the puck, forecheck and have the Dmen playing point instead of sitting back in the neutral zone.

Is this how they played tonight?

Is this how they played tonight?
For the third and overtime, yeah. I missed the first two periods, myself.

It's time to break the mold, guys. Let's see the speed.

Run & Gun Devils.

It was supposed to be Tampa Bay who was "run & gun".

I wonder if Lou stepped in for Julien because he saw the defense getting worn out and the innefectiveness of our 1-2-2, and is somehow giving everyone the green light in trying to instill some kind of faster game plan. But we're kind of inconsistent at it and getting burned a lot, but this is 2 games out of 4 where we lit it up (from a Devils standpoint) and perhaps we are getting used to it. Although I'm still worried about Brodeur.

score 4 goals in each of the next 2 games. :teach:

Right. So lets take the game to them, instead of letting them take the game to us.

I agree, I'm sick and tired of watching the Devils just stand there and let them fire away from the perimeter.

This sounds like it will work, however, once we beat the bolts, we're gonna have to work on our defense. It is not gonna work on the other teams. The sabres and senators both have a more balanced powerful offense that our run and gun style can't beat. We need to have defensemen that just clear the puck out of our zone as fast as they can.

I agree, I'm sick and tired of watching the Devils just stand there and let them fire away from the perimeter.

thats what im saying...sometimes it feels like your talking to yourself on this board

We have to do what we did in the first period tonight...and that was getting the wingers deeper into the zone to help with the breakout and using short passes to exit the zone. Skating it out isn't going to work and wrapping it around the boards takes too much time for the forwards to gain control and move forward.

We've relied on Gomez's skating and puckhandling waaaaay too much and have forgotten how to play like a five man unit. You'll notice that the wingers don't enter the zone with speed at all, they hang at the blueline and wait for Gomez to cross it. This makes it more difficult to back off the defense or retrieve dumpins. Plus Elias HAS TO start using the body on the forecheck. I'm tired of watching him stand three feet away from the Lightning player and just wave his stick trying to knock down a pass.

I pretty much agree with everything Classic Devil said. One of the things that infuriated me the most about Julien was that he had a fast, skating, but small, team playing the dump and chase almost without exception. Didn't make any sense. I do think you need to play to the team's strengths. In the past, the team's best players (other than Marty) were all defensemen. Stevens and Daneyko provided the team with it's identity. Now, the EGG line takes up more than a third of the team's capspace by themselves and Parise is getting better and better. The team's strength is now in it's small, skating forwards, and it needs to use it.

We have to do what we did in the first period tonight...and that was getting the wingers deeper into the zone to help with the breakout and using short passes to exit the zone. Skating it out isn't going to work and wrapping it around the boards takes too much time for the forwards to gain control and move forward.

We've relied on Gomez's skating and puckhandling waaaaay too much and have forgotten how to play like a five man unit. You'll notice that the wingers don't enter the zone with speed at all, they hang at the blueline and wait for Gomez to cross it. This makes it more difficult to back off the defense or retrieve dumpins. Plus Elias HAS TO start using the body on the forecheck. I'm tired of watching him stand three feet away from the Lightning player and just wave his stick trying to knock down a pass.

I agree with you that they have relied way too much on Gomez's carrying the puck by himself rather than playing as a unit.

I agree with Elias not using the body in games 2 and 3, but I thought he did a much better job in game 4. And in game 1, Elias using the body on the forecheck led directly to the last goal. Thinking of it makes me realize just how important he is to the team. When he goes out there and lays the body, the rest of the team follows and they generally win. He needs to do that more often.

What will make Tampa falter is simple...we're missing that "big hit" on one of there superstars that will make them 2nd guess when crossing the blue line.

They should be dressing Cam for game 4 or Clarkson. If they don't...someone on the defense needs to step up & lay that big hit on either S-L-R. They just have to in this game.

Plus, Lou has to...just has to roll the 4th line more. Dowd, Rass & Rupp shouldn't being sitting on the pine with fresh legs that are ready to go.

While I think our offense has certainly stepped it up, and put on the pressure, our defense still lacks the appropriate physicality. I think Lou isn't emphasizing it because he wants discipline and physical games end up with a lot of penalties. But it's honestly what we need...

Want to prevent those long passes? Turn Luko and Matty (on separate lines) into Free Safeties. Put them on the ice with a guy that can skate (raffy, martin, green) and every time they go for the long pass, have one of them step up and absolutely annihilate whoever the puck touches. It might seem crazy, and maybe it's take a chance for an odd-man rush...but if they put a hurtin' on someone getting a pass like that, they're either gonna be reluctant to take the pass, or just flat out stop and try and carry the puck in which is where our scheme works the best.

Matty is a physical player, and Luko has shown this season that he can put some solid checks on people when he puts his mind to it. Maybe I'm no hockey genius, but I find it hard to believe Tampa wouldn't want to change their scheme after getting hammered all night for throwing long passes. The problem is if someone doesn't get a stick on the actual pass, they make them 95% of the time from blue line to blue line. Especially Vinny and St. Louis. They pretty much give it to Marty, let him skate around our defense, and try and make the pass to an open Vinny. A nice shoulder to St. Louis chin, and I bet he won't be coming back for more.

Guess what, guys. We're not good enough at defense to beat Tampa with defense. We're just not. It's time to adapt our game, something New Jersey never, ever does.

What we did today, was play Tampa-style firewagon hockey. And when we did, our offensive depth closed the gap on Tampa's superstars. This series is going to take something completely new, which we haven't seen in years from the Devils - defensive responsibility, backchecking, and all out high-flying offense.

That's what our offensive corps is built for. Even our checking line is built around skating. We can't out-forecheck Tampa, we're not physical enough. We can't trap Tampa to death - they beat us with long passes and superstar skill. But we can outskate Tampa. They run their top line ragged and their other lines are nowhere near St. Louis, Lecavalier, or Richards in skill level.

It's time to break the mold, guys. Let's see the speed.


How sweet was it to see Martin jump up in the play!

How sweet was it to see Martin jump up in the play!
i thought a big adjustment last night was NJ letting TB have the perimeter (in the defensive zone)...instead of being too aggressive which opens up the middle.

i think NJ has been creating good scoring chances in every game so far.

I agree though, that this TB team matches up well against NJ because the forwards are so skilled and the devils offense will have to continue to produce.

I don't know that it gets any easier though...if Ottawa wins their series, i think that offense poses more problems than TB (looking at how ottawa is currently playing). NYI pulling off the miracle comeback is the best bet for NJ. (of course, not being a NJ fan, i am comfortable thinking that NJ will win this series...i apologize for the "curse" unleashed because i am looking ahead...since i'm a Ranger fan, i don't think the curse works like that anyway.)

All we need to advance is Marty to play like Marty as he did in the third and OT and we should advance. I liked the way the team fore-checked and played offensively.

They played very well last night. It was a different game from the Devils that I haven't seen from them before. I agree with you %100 Classic Devil. You make some great points.

All we need to do is continue like we did last night. Come out with fire and intensity and we can match Tampa every step of the way. Marty needs to play like Marty as everyone said and we can take this series and move on.

What we have to do to win this series....

Play Devils hockey. Like we did in Game 5 and I expect them to do in Game 6.